Success Means Selling the Auto Pact to Japanese Public : Trade: Consumer education should bring the leverage to ensure industry’s ‘voluntary’ action.

The color of tamamushi. That is how the Japanese are describing the recent U.S.-Japan agreement on automotive trade. Tamamushi is the jewel beetle whose iridescent wings reflect different colors depending upon how one views the insect. But what this metaphor really implies is that this agreement, like others that preceded it between Tokyo and Washington, means different things to different people.

Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama claimed that Japan successfully resisted American efforts to impose numerical targets. President Clinton highlighted numerical estimates about expected increases in foreign-car dealerships in Japan and Japanese purchases of foreign cars and parts.

The accord commits Tokyo to deregulate the repair garages, which will affect the repair parts market in Japan. It also calls on Japan to strengthen its anti-monopoly laws so as to curb private anti-competitive behavior that excludes foreign products. The implementation of these commitments will not only yield attractive business opportunities for foreign companies; it also will bring significant benefits to Japanese consumers. Unfortunately, this message is not coming across to the Japanese public.

Clinton and Murayama must spin the agreement so as to serve their immediate political interests. What is unconscionable is the public discussion in Japan. In addition to the predictable accounts of Trade Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto’s heroic efforts to block the U.S. efforts, the Japanese media have focused on the plans of Japanese car companies to reduce their production at home because they must increase their production in North America in response to U.S. pressure. The implication is clear: The auto agreement with the United States will accelerate the “hollowing out” of Japanese industry. Japanese auto executives can now blame the United States for employment cuts--even though these cuts had been inevitable given the overinvestment during the 1980s.

Remarkably absent in the Japanese public discourse is any talk of consumer benefits. There are hardly any stories of how American auto firms are finally getting serious about selling good quality cars at low prices and how Japanese citizens will ultimately benefit. Of course, Japanese officials cannot publicly admit that it takes foreign pressure to develop policies that further the interests of their own citizens.

The United States must mobilize support within Japan. Washington must win back the support of Japanese liberal opinion leaders who have long criticized Japanese business practices and government-business collusion for exploiting consumers and workers. Only by winning the support of Japanese consumers and reformers will Washington have enough leverage to persuade the Japanese government and business to do “voluntarily” what is necessary.